The Philosophical DictionaryVoltaireSelected and Translated by H.I. Woolf
New York: Knopf, 1924Scanned by the Hanover College Department of History in 1995.Proofread and pages added by Jonathan Perry, March 2001.

Virtue

IT is said of Marcus Brutus that, before killing himself, he uttered
these words : '' 0 virtue ! I thought you were something; but you are only
an empty phantom ! "

You were right, Brutus, if you considered virtue as being head of a
faction and assassin of your benefactor; but if you had considered virtue
as consisting only of doing good to those dependent on you, you would not
have called it a phantom, and you would not have killed yourself in despair.

I am very virtuous says this excrement of theology, for I have the four
cardinal virtues, and the three divine. An honest man asks him--" What
is the cardinal virtue? " The other answers--" Strength, prudence, temperance
and justice."

THE HONEST MAN:

If you are just, you have said everything; your strength, your prudence,
your temperance, are useful qualities. If you have them, so much the better
for you; but if you are just, so much the better for the others. But it
is not enough to be just, you must do good; that is what is really cardinal.
And your divine virtues, which are they?

THE EXCREMENT:

Faith, hope, charity.

THE HONEST MAN:

Is it a virtue to believe? either what you believe seems true to you, and
in this case there is no merit in believing; or it seems false to you,
and then it is impossible for you to believe.

Hope cannot be a virtue any more than fear; one fears and one hopes,
according as one receives a promise or a threat. As for charity, is it
not what the Greeks and the Romans understood by humanity, love of one's
neighbour? this love is nothing if it be not active; doing good, therefore,
is the sole true virtue.

THE EXCREMENT:

One would be a fool! Really, I am to give myself a deal of torment in order
to serve mankind, and I shall get no return! all work deserves payment.
I do not mean to do the least honest action, unless I am certain of paradise.

THE HONEST MAN:

Ah, master! that is to say that, if you did not hope for paradise, and
if you did not fear hell, you would never do any good action. Believe me,
master, there are two things worthy of being loved for themselves, God
and virtue.

THE EXCREMENT:

I see, sir, you are a disciple of Fenelon.

THE HONEST MAN:

Yes, master.

THE EXCREMENT:

I shall denounce you to the judge of the ecclesiastical court at Meaux.

THE HONEST MAN:

Go along, denounce!

SECTION II

What is virtue? Beneficence towards the fellow-creature. Can I call
virtue things other than those which do me good? I am needy, you are generous.
I am in danger, you help me. I am deceived, you tell me the truth. I am
neglected, you console me. I am ignorant, you teach me. Without difficulty
I shall call you virtuous. But what will become of the cardinal and divine
virtues? Some of them will remain in the schools.

What does it matter to me that you are temperate? you observe a precept
of health; you will have better health, and I am happy to hear it. You
have faith and hope, and I am happy still; they will procure you eternal
life. Your divine virtues are celestial gifts; your cardinal virtues are
excellent qualities which serve to guide you : but they are not virtues
as regards your fellow-creature. The prudent man does good to himself,
the virtuous man does good to mankind. St. Paul was right to tell you that
charity prevails over faith and hope.

But shall only those that are useful to one's fellow-creature be admitted
as virtues? How can I admit any others? We live in society; really, therefore,
the only things that are good for us are those that are good for society.
A recluse will be sober, pious; he will be clad in hair-cloth; he will
be a saint: but I shall not call him virtuous until he has done some act
of virtue by which other men have profited. So long as he is alone, he
is doing neither good nor evil; for us he is nothing. If St. Bruno brought
peace to families, if he succoured want, he was virtuous; if he fasted,
prayed in solitude, he was a saint. Virtue among men is an interchange
of kindness; he who has no part in this interchange should not be counted.
If this saint were in the world, he would doubtless do good; but so long
as he is not in the world, the world will be right in refusing him the
title of virtuous; he will be good for himself and not for us.

But, you say to me, if a recluse is a glutton, a drunkard, given to
secret debauches with himself, he is vicious; he is virtuous, therefore,
if he has the Opposite qualities. That is what I cannot agree : he is a
very disagreeable fellow if he has the faults you mention; but he is not
vicious, wicked, punishable as regards society to whom these infamies do
no harm. It is to be presumed that were he to return to society he would
do harm there, that he would be very vicious; and it is even more probable
that he would be a wicked man, than it is sure that the other temperate
and chaste recluse would be a virtuous man, for in society faults increase,
and good qualities diminish.

A much stronger objection is made; Nero, Pope Alexander VI., and other
monsters of this species, have bestowed kindnesses; I answer hardily that
on that day they were virtuous.

A few theologians say that the divine emperor Antonine was not virtuous;
that he was a stubborn Stoic who, not content with commanding men, wished
further to be esteemed by them; that he attributed to himself the good
he did to the human race; that all his life he was just, laborious, beneficent
through vanity, and that lie only deceived men through his virtues. " My
God ! " I exclaim. " Give us often rogues like him ! "